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My $50 DAC

riverrat said:
I go back and forth about whether to try a modern external DAC, a newer single play CDP (e.g. Lite Audio CD-15) or an older, less expensive DAC. I think DAC technology has rapidly improved, so buying a DAC from almost 10 years ago is a bit of a gamble.

But at $50, the Number Cruncher seemed like an inexpensive gamble as my first foray into this arena. I hope to obtain improvements on the scale you did- we will see!
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Most of the newer DACs do not offer jitter protection of any kind. I am not aware of any that do it for $50. While the new DACs have better abilities as far as upsampling is concerned, there is a debate as to whether the upsampling actually helps the sound quality. I intend to use mine for a computer or my network DVD player (IO Data Linkplayer). The Linkplayer is paired with a Super T-amp via the component outputs on the Linkplayer, but I would rather send out via Coax or optical and do the analog conversion with the DAC. For me, the $50 is a no-brainer. :thmbsp:

I read the proaudio review before I purchased the DAC. Their review, combined with the initial impressions posed by AlleyKat, gave me enough confidence to take the leap.
 
riverrat said:
The Sony SCD222 ES has both coax and "optical" digital outs. I presume the "optical" is the same as TOSlink, is this correct?
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Yeah, that's what I meant.
I did a quick search on "coax vs toslink" and found some responses indicating that the preference for coax stems from the use of clear plastic to transmit the signal (as you refer to) and that the use of a glass toslink cable can solve those problems.

I was looking at a glass toslink cable on eBay HERE
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I doubt you'd be able to tell the difference, once you went glass. But be careful with that, it's fragile as...well, glass.
 
Thanks for the replies folks.

uofmtiger said:
Most of the newer DACs do not offer jitter protection of any kind. I am not aware of any that do it for $50. While the new DACs have better abilities as far as upsampling is concerned, there is a debate as to whether the upsampling actually helps the sound quality.
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Yes the whole upsampling vs. non-upsampling thing. Not sure what to make of that. Not even trying to figure it out just yet.

RE jitter, I think I've read enough to know that this is often a culprit of bad CD sound. The 203.2 is supposed to have good jitter reduction. This might be an area that the 203.2 is better than the Sony.

uofmtiger said:
I intend to use mine for a computer or my network DVD player (IO Data Linkplayer). The Linkplayer is paired with a Super T-amp via the component outputs on the Linkplayer, but I would rather send out via Coax or optical and do the analog conversion with the DAC. For me, the $50 is a no-brainer. :thmbsp:
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My system is old-school compared to yours! A 2-channel, audio-only system playing 50s-70s music with an 80s amp, circa ~2000 CD playback, factory new Totem speakers.

Dusty Chalk said:
Yeah, that's what I meant.I doubt you'd be able to tell the difference, once you went glass. But be careful with that, it's fragile as...well, glass.
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OK, you've about got me convinced, I'll probably just go with coax. I thought the toslink might sound better but if not, why bother eh?
 
Just picked up a new 203.2 off of ebay for under $55.00 including shipping, sales tax and insurance. I am planning to use it with an old-school heavy-duty "Made in Japan" Pioneer DV-414 DVD player as my CD transport.
 
I sprung for one, also. I will post a comparison between it and the the LiTe DAC AH M1 (NOS), after the aforementioned burn-in.

Thanks for the heads up!
 
riverrat said:
OK, you've about got me convinced, I'll probably just go with coax. I thought the toslink might sound better but if not, why bother eh?
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Agreed. The one place where optical is better than electrical is in ground loops. I've had at least one instance where it was solved by switching to an optical connection.
 
Can't believe I paid 2X for the same DAC!

Just found below link....

Group buy, anyone?

Let's see....if I buy the whole lot and make approximately, say, $12.00 for each on ebay....$3,600! Hmmm, on an investment of about $5,300....
 
It seems, once again, that AK members and the multitude of "guests" who visit the site, have a major impact on the pricing of components. When I started this thread, the DAC was sellling for $34.99 as a "Buy It Now" item and the seller had 15 or so available. By the time of the preceding post, the Buy It Now DAC's had been sold out and only one was up for auction. This morning, I visited the seller's store to see if he had replenished his stock and discovered that he had 20 available. However, the Buy It Now price has increased to $49.99 a 43% increase. :scratch2:
 
I sniped an auction from a different seller and won it at about $43 plus shipping. The seller must've seen a big demand and figured people would pay more. He evidently was right. :)
 
Hoping to see some reviews of the DAC in your systems. Please post your impressions of its performance. THANKS! :scratch2:
 
AlleyKat said:
Hoping to see some reviews of the DAC in your systems. Please post your impressions of its performance. THANKS! :scratch2:
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I just got mine yesterday. I am breaking it in over the next few days, so I will post my impressions next week. :thmbsp:
 
I received mine today. It's installed and I am listening to it as I type. I am taking it to the DixieFest, and will report back after some further listening.

So far so good! :music:
 
I've listened for just 15 minutes or so to the Entech - system is a Nakamichi CDC-3A cd player, Autocostruire Tripath amp and Heathkit AS-101 (Altec Valencia copies). It sounds...different. There seems to be more presence in the bass and mid-bass, slightly more clarity in the mids, but less in the highs.

If I set it too close to the CDP or amp, I get a periodic clicking noise through the speakers.

We'll see how it goes after a few hours of play.
 
trianglezerius said:
$45 isnt a bargain cable? To me with cables you get what you pay for!
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I am buying my first digital cable (aside from using 3 Radio Shack digital coax cables as component video cables) for use with my Entech Number Cruncher 203.2. My local Target stores are clearing Monster Cable stuff and I picked up a 1 meter digital coax cable for $5.00 and a 1 meter Toslink cable for $10.00. Whatever you feel about Monster Cable, that's a great price for a name brand cable. So check your local Target stores.
 
Monster cables are aweful. I never heard anything of theres that was musical. I personally would have spent a couple of dollars more and bought an apogee wideye.
 
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